Now and then, we came upon large droves of horses, belonging to the Republican village. They were roving along the banks of the Platte, in bands of several hundred, prancing, and capering as wildly, as if they were still free, upon their own prairies. Upon our approach, they raised their heads, and gazed fearlessly upon us. Two or three of the largest, then left the herd, and slowly approached. For a moment they remained motionless, then with a loud snort, flinging their heels in the air, they dashed back to the drove, which sped off, with a sound like thunder. Occasionally too, we would pass a small hillock, upon which an Indian stood motionless, watching our movements. There is a classic air about them, when seen at a distance, with their robes flowing in graceful drapery round them, their forms drawn fully up, and their outstretched arms supported by their long spears. As these scouts thus gazed, so calm and motionless, I almost imagined they regarded us with the despair of persons, who knew that their fall was near, but that resistance was hopeless.
While we were yet several miles distant from the village, we observed mounted Indians, driving before them large droves of horses, to be ready for service in the wild ceremony of our reception.
The town of the Tappage Pawnees is situated upon a broad plain overlooking the Platte. It is the smallest of all the Pawnee villages, and contains about a thousand inhabitants. The most of them were now poured out upon the prairie, where we could distinguish them in the distance, drawn up in a motionless body, waiting for the signal to dash forward to meet us.
When we approached sufficiently near, it was given. Once more, we beheld them coming surge-like upon us, and changing their course at the very moment when our ruin seemed inevitable. Again the dizzying evolutions of the troop passed before us. The wild neighing of the horses, mingled in confusion—with the thunder of their hoofs—with the yells and whoops of the Indians, and the clashing sound of their bows and tomahawks. When this was concluded, the ceremony of presenting horses was performed. Half an hour brought us to the town, where as before we found every being on the look out for our coming, and every preparation made, to receive us in a manner worthy of the nation. There is a sameness in Indian customs and habits, which render description tedious. Suffice it to say, that we were received by the chief and his people with all the kindness and hospitality which their means afforded.
About ten o’clock on the next morning we mounted our horses and clattered through the village on our route for the town of the Pawnee Loups, situated about five miles farther up the river. This is the wildest of the four villages, owing perhaps to the savage nature of its chief.
We rode in a straggling string along the low, irregular prairie. The Otoe Indians skirted along the bank of the river. Those of the soldiers, who were not engaged with the teams, reconnoitered the different pools of water, in hopes of coming unawares upon some pensive duck, who might be dozing upon their surfaces. Here and there we observed a broken patch of corn, at the bottom of some ravine, where the washed earth was of so soft a texture as to require but little trouble in cultivation. Occasionally too, we passed a clump of dwarf trees, closely grouped together over the brink of a spring, or run of water. Otherwise the prairie was bare of forest, and covered only with long withered grass.
When we had ridden about half the distance, a number of Otoes came scampering up, to tell us that there were about a dozen white cranes, standing upon a sand-bar in the Platte. This incident, trivial as it may seem, created quite an excitement among the troop. Half a dozen loaded rifles were handed from the wagons, and as many soldiers started off followed by a troop of Indians, with their arrows ready fitted to their bows, in case the firearms of the whites should fail. But all this preparation was useless, for when they arrived within about three hundred yards of the bank, one of the birds, who, like an old man, on a cold day, was standing with his head closely snugged up against his breast, and gazing in moralizing mood upon the swift water, suddenly shot out a neck, three feet long, and turned a quick and steady eye upon the approaching hunters. He gazed a moment, then taking a step, and slowly raising his wings until their tips nearly met over his back, he rose from the earth, as if by mere volition, uttering a shrill cry which brought after him, his startled comrades. As they rose, a shower of bullets whistled after them, without disturbing their flight. They slowly mounted in air floating like a snowflake over the silver Platte. For a few moments they lingered over its shining bosom, as if loth to leave their resting place; but after wheeling in several widely extended circles, they soared to an immense height, and then took a steady course to the eastward and were lost to the sight.
It was not long before we reached a high bluff in the prairie, from whence we descried the village of the Pawnee Loups, about half a mile distant, but we saw no signs of preparation to receive us. A single Indian alone appeared, galloping at full speed over the prairies. His horse was of a dark cream colour, fierce, and powerful. To his bit was attached a scalp, consisting of the whole upper part of a human head, the hair of which must have been full two feet in length, nearly reaching the ground. The horseman proved to be the Black Chief of the Loups. When he had come within a few yards of us, he sprang from his horse, and reached out the bridle to one of our soldiers to hold.
His face was far more swarthy than that of any Indian we had ever seen; but it was not more dark than the nature of the man. He was perfectly naked, with the exception of a pair of leggings of dressed buffalo hide, worn apparently for the sake of displaying a profusion of scalp-locks, with which they were heavily fringed. His frame was not large, but muscular and finely formed. His high chest looked as hard as rock, and the tread of his mocassined foot, was as firm as iron. His whole figure was one, which for fine proportion, and strength, might have served a sculptor, but his scowling face marred the beauty of his person. Yet he had his virtues. He was true to his word, and faithful to his friends; but upon his enemies he let loose every evil passion. The old and the young; the defenceless mother, and the harmless child, alike fell beneath his war-club.